Improvement in shoe-brushes



im 5,2 mi.

PATENT QEEIcE.

GEORGE R. OWEN, OF ROME, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHOE-BRUSHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,638, dated August 29, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE R. OWEN, of Rome, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, have invented a certain Improvement in Shoe-Brushes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specification, in which Figure l is an elevation of my improved brush, showing the blacking-boX as inserted in the body thereof and the handle slid in so as to hold it in position, a portion ofthe body being broken away to show the spring which holds it. Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, the handle being shown in its outward position, the arrangement for holding it in that position being shown. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line .trof Fig. l, showing the means of attaching the handle to the back of the brush.

Corresponding letters refer to corresponding parts in the several gures.

This invention relates to that class of brushes that is used for cleaning and blackening boots and shoes; and it consists in providing a chamber or recess in the body thereof for the reception ot' the blacking-box, and combining therewith a sliding' handle for holding said boX in position when the brush is not in use; and it further consists in the combination and arrangement of the parts of which it is composed, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

In constructing brushes of this character I use any suitable stock or body A for the brush, it bev ing made of greater depth or thickness than those of ordinary brushes, in order that a chamber or recess may be formed in its upper surface of about the depth of the blackingbox, as shown in the drawing. The face of this brush is provided with bristles in the usual 1nanner,'and a portion of its upper surface may also be provided with bristles to serve as a brush for applying the blacking to the boot or shoe. In order that the brush when not in use may be contracted to as great an eX- tent aspossible for convenience in packing, and also that suitable means may be provided for always keeping the blacking and brush together,

a sliding handle, B, is provided, which has in its lower surface a dovetailed formation, and in its sides grooves into which the flanges of a metallic guide or support, O, enter, said guide being hrmly secured to the back or stock of the brush. The form of the metallic guide O and the method of securing the handle to it are clearly shown in Fig. 3. For the purpose of holding the handle firmly in its position when it has been drawn out for use, as shown in Fig. 2, a spring, D, is inserted in the stock ofthe brush and under the metallic guide C. From the point where this spring is thus attached it extends toward the recess for the blacking-box .for some distance, when it is bent upward and again downward, so as to forni a projection upon its upper surface; or this projection may be formed in any other manner, it being for the purpose of passing up through the slot in the bottom of the guide O and into a recess in the lower side of the handle B, as shown in Fig. 2, its ofice being to hold the handle firmly when the brush is in use.

When it is desirable to fold the handle or return it to its closed position the box is inserted in its recess, which will-cause it to bear upon the inner bent end of spring D and carry its projection down out ofthe recess in handle B, when it may be slid into the position shown in Fig. l, by doing which the blacking-boX will be held in the recess, and the whole will form a compact mass, easily carried in a trunk or satchel.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

rEhe slide-handle B, when constructed and arranged substantially as shown, as a consequence of which it is made to hold the box in its recess, when in position shown in Fig. 1, and to serve as a handle when in position shown in Fig. 2.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub* scribing witnesses.

GEO. R. OWEN.

Witnesses E. OWEN, A. B. BLAIR. 

